Has it really been 30 years since the laugh-out-loud TV sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond premiered on CBS, introducing us to the wacky Barone family of Lynbrook?
Now the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame in Stony Brook celebrates this beloved show set on Long Island with an exciting interactive exhibit, Everybody Loves Raymond: Celebrating 30 Years, which opened on Nov. 28.
The hilarious antics in this show were based on creator Phil Rosenthal’s, star Ray Romano, and their writing team’s real-life experiences with their own families, making for highly relatable situations. That authenticity combined with the stellar comedic cast led to a highly successful nine seasons and 210 episodes airing from 1998 to 2005. The show centered around Ray and Debra Barone and Ray’s parents, Marie and Frank, who lived across the street with Ray’s brother Robert.
Comedian Romano played Raymond Barone, who worked as a sportswriter for Newsday, and actress Patricia Heaton played his wife Debra. Romano and Heaton had special chemistry that made their exchanges hysterical. They had three children: Ally was played by Madlyn Sweeten, and with her real-life twin brothers Sawyer and Sullivan Sweeten were cast as the Barones’ twin sons Geoffrey and Michael. Much of the laugh riot happened around family conflicts with Ray’s meddling parents, brilliantly played by Doris Roberts and Peter Boyle. Ray’s older brother Robert, played by the towering Brad Garrett, was a New York City police officer who was depicted as being jealous of his younger brother’s achievements.
The 30th anniversary of this show was celebrated earlier this year with an exhibit at the Paley Center for Media in New York City that ran from June through September 2025 and a prime-time CBS reunion special that aired on Nov. 24.
A media event at LIMEHOF the following day, unveiled the Everybody Loves Raymond: Celebrating 30 Years exhibit to Romano and all in attendance.
“Two years ago we stood right here and launched the Billy Joel exhibit with Billy Joel,” Ernie Canadeo, LIMEHOF chairman, said. We ran it for two years and I’m absolutely thrilled to be able to launch the Everybody Loves Raymond exhibit with Raymond Romano here.”
Romano threw out a humorous retort by saying, “I only get one year?”
This exhibit will especially charm fans of the show and anyone interested in Hollywood memorabilia.
“I’m so grateful that I was invited out there to the filming, and the next day breaking down the set and putting it in the truck was so much fun,” LIMEHOF Creative Director and Exhibit Designer Kevin O’Callaghan, said.
The centerpiece of this exhibit is the original 70-foot-wide set with original props. In a tour of the set, O’Callaghan said, “This is Frank’s original chair, the coffee table, not the original couch — Ray owns that — the original sideboard, remote control, stove, and refrigerator with all the original kids’ drawings and magnets. We have the details down from that period to the cereal box. I reproduced the floor from photographs and the spoon and fork are the real things that hung in Marie’s kitchen.”
In attendance with Romano were his twin sons Gregory and Matthew, younger son Joseph, real brother Richard, long-time manager and executive producer on the show, Rory Rosegarten, and head writer on the show, Tom Caltabiano. Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine was on hand for the festivities.
Many of the artifacts on display were donated by Rosegarten, who saved pieces through the years of filming.
“A bunch of the props are mine that I’ve held on to, like the toaster, the canister, Robert’s wallet and badge and Shamsky’s collar,” he said.
Most of the photographs on display were compliments of Caltabiano, who regularly photographed the show.
“I met Raymond in 1989 at the original Improv in New York City,” Caltabiano said. “We’ve been friends ever since. While I was a writer on the show, I took 30,000 behind-the-scenes photos. It’s the most photographed TV show in history because I was a writer so I was there every day with my camera.
“One person didn’t like me taking pictures all the time and that was Ray Romano,” he continued. “He’s not an egomaniac as you guys can probably tell but we took 30,000 photographs. The timing for this was perfect. Kevin and Ernie said the Billy Joel exhibit ends in November and the Raymond anniversary special films in October, do you think we can get the set on a truck and into Long Island and it seemed impossible. Sure enough, we loaded a truck and it ended up here. That set would have been struck and been in a dumpster even though it cost a crazy amount of money. It’s so special to preserve this Raymond experience for another year and hopefully longer.”
As Romano’s brother Richard watched from the sidelines, one might wonder if he really is the jealous brother in the shadow of the star.
“I’m so proud of him,” Richard said. “We were close growing up. We’re only 18 months apart. I’m older. He always had a great wit. He was the joy of our family, always telling jokes. He tried very hard in the comedy clubs.
“When he got this show, we were so happy,” he continued. “He’s the nicest guy and he deserved it. I was an NYPD sergeant. If I was asked how do you feel about Raymond making all that money telling jokes and you’re a cop and not making any money, I have to say I love my job. I wouldn’t change for a minute.”
After the tour of the set and all the accolades, Romano addressed the crowd, first speaking of his brother.
“Richard is the one who coined the phrase Everybody Loves Raymond,” Romano said. “He didn’t say it the way you think. Richard was a New York City cop. The story goes that he came in the house and I guess there was an award on the table. Richard said to my mother what’s this and my mother said that’s some award that Raymond won. Richard said when I go to work people shoot at me, they spit at me, but everybody loves Raymond! And that stuck.”
Romano went on to recognize some important people in his life.
“I wanna first thank my manager of 35 years,” he added. “We took a shot. I was a young comedian doing standup for three or four years at that time. We did the whole circuit. He got me a spot on the Letterman show and that led to this. Dave Letterman then produced Everybody Loves Raymond after seeing me on his show. He signed me to a deal and this is what became of it. Tom, my friend of 30 years, became a writer on it.”
As a final poignant remark, Romano said, “I’m old, I’m gonna forget some things, I’m not gonna forget this. This is like a time travel for me but it’s the best kind of time travel because it’s to a magic moment in my life and my family’s life. To relive this, to be here and get a sense of it, it’s just so special, so I thank everybody who was involved in this.”
Tickets are now on sale for Everybody Loves Raymond: Celebrating 30 Years at The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame in Stony Brook Village.
